Video Splurge
by rotterdam
Summary: Remus shows everyone a box of videos he found with footage of James, Sirius, Lily, Peter etc, so they sit down and watch them all. Secrets from Sirius' past are revealed to Harry, Ron, Hermione etc... I don't know what will come up yet though!
1. The Videos

I suppose this would be set after the fifth book, so Sirius is dead. I don't really when it is though.

Enjoy.

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Mrs Weasley had brewed a pot of tea, which she place on the table in The Burrow kitchen along with enough cups for Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Remus, Tonks, Mr Weasley and herself. To say they were crammed in was an understatement but it was the Christmas holidays and it was warm and cosy in the kitchen.

Remus poured the tea and passed it around, listening to the general moaning about the levels of homework. "Seriously guys, I swear we got more that you get."

Mr Weasley nodded. "Definitely. They seen laxer now-"

Fred snorted. "That's a load of bullshit-"

"Language!" snapped Mrs Weasley, glaring at him from where she was decanting mountains of Custard Creams and Rick Tea Biscuits onto a plate.

"James was always terrible at homework anyway. He would leave it all to the last afternoon, then just sit down and reel it all out perfectly. He might have had a mind like a sieve for remembering day to day stuff, but school stuff just stuck," said Remus, blowing on his tea, taking a sip and burning his tongue.

"What about Sirius?" asked Harry, leaning forward to take a biscuit.

"Depends what year. Around fourth and fifth years, things got a little tense at home and work slided," said Remus.

"Why?"

"I just said…"

"No, I mean why were things tense at home?"

"Oh… you know, they wanted him to join Voldemort and be a better pureblood."

"I didn't know they wanted him to join the Death Eaters!" said Hermione, frowning.

"Oh yeah," Remus replied, risking sipping his tea again. "They said it was the only way he could earn their respect again. It killed him, that choice."

Ron snorted. "Why? I though he hated them? Should've been easy."

Remus shook his head. "He didn't want to leave Regulus there. I think they were closer than we though but he didn't really talk about it. Always managed to skirt around the subject. A trait he got from his father."

"I remember Orion Black," said Mr Weasley. "He was the spitting image of Sirius and Regulus. Very handsome."

"Ok, calm down dad," smirked George.

"Who's Regulus again?" asked Ron.

"Sirius' brother," said Remus, reaching for another biscuit.

"And they looked alike?"

"Yeah. Very similar. Actually…" Remus realised, "I have like, a whole big box of photos at home of everyone. At Hogwarts, after Hogwarts, everything. I haven't looked at them in years. I can't believe I forgot to show you all!"

"Can you get them? Now?" asked Harry eagerly. He wanted to see photos of his parents because there weren't too many in his photo album.

"Yeah, yeah I will," said Remus, standing up. "I'll be back in a minute," he added before apparating.

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He apparated back with some difficulty due to the heavy cardboard box he was struggling to hold. He thumped it down onto the table with a lumpy bag he had had slung over his shoulder. "I brought these first because they're actually more interesting," he puffed.

"Video Splurge," Fred read slowly from the words scrawled across the box. "What's that?"

"Well", said Remus. "Peter had a Muggle video camera, one of the first cheapish ones, and he managed to charm it so it would work at Hogwarts. We all used it, for years and years and these videos are the result," he said almost triumphantly, flinging open the lid of the box.

Everyone leaned in eagerly, even Mrs Weasley who had been washing up. The box contained at least thirty videos, all neatly labelled and dated with Remus' tidy handwriting. The labels were faded and peeling in places, but on the whole seemed to be in good condition.

Remus then opened the bag he had been carrying and pulled out an old-fashioned video projector, magically powered. "I thought we could watch them," he said to the table of eager faces.

"Cool!" said Ron. He leant over and picked out a video at random. "Drunken antics," he read, grinning.

Remus shrugged. "It would mostly be Sirius and James. They were the real hell raisers." He took it from Ron's outstretched hand and placed it gingerly in the slot on the machine, which was now standing upright on the table, pointed nothing in particular.

Mr Weasley put out the lights with a flick of his wand, and Remus touched his wand tip to the machine, which flickered into life. In the space in the air before the table, a sort of screen appeared as if the machine was projecting it, but it seemed to be made of an almost smoke-like substance. The screen was blank for a few seconds before voices could be heard, but there was no picture.

"_Is it working? Shit! Pete's gonna kill us if it's broken."_

"That's James," Remus whispered.

"_No, he's going to kill you because you spat vodka over it."_

A few of them laughed.

"And that's Sirius," Remus whispered again.

Suddenly, the camera shot moved, and it because clear that someone had been wiping the lens and had now moved the cloth. The shot was focused on a pair of dangling bare feet suspended from somewhere they couldn't see, over hardwood floors and what seemed to be a brick wall.

_James' voice sounded again. "Oh… oh, it's working!"_

The camera moved up, up the person's skinny jean clad legs until it became clear that the person was sitting in a swing inside a house. It only showed them from the waist down.

"Oh, that's Sirius' house," explained Remus, continuing with the commentary.

"He had a _swing_ inside his _house_?" asked Hermione incredulously.

Remus grinned. "Yeah. He had tonnes of money, so he bought an old warehouse in London and converted it. It was so cool. He added a whole second floor in pinewood, with the kitchen underneath, divided from the main living bit by this huge fish tank. You'll probably see it in a moment."

"But why the swing?"

"There was loads of space left over so-"

"Shush you two!" said Fred, motioning back to the screen.

It had zoomed out now to show Sirius, about eighteen, with raffish good looks, swinging hard on the swing and wearing only black skinny jeans. He was slim, with some muscle definition and several tattoos; one winding round his hip and a series of black stars round his forearm. He had a lit cigarette in his mouth and smiled at the camera as though trying to seduce it.

"_You look fucked," said James._

"Swore a lot, did he?" asked George sarcastically.

"Yeah," laughed Remus. "I think they'd been to a gig or a club or something judging by the sweaty hair and the smudges of eyeliner."

Sirius did look, as James put it, a bit fucked. His hair was everywhere and he had large circles around his eyes, partly from tiredness and partly from smudged eyeliner. He was swinging still, higher and higher, leaning back. James, who must have been holding the camera, sat back so they could see his legs. He too was wearing black skinny jeans with Nike high-tops, which he kicked off to reveal red socks with blue stars of them.

"_Nice socks," called Sirius, slowing his swinging. "It's working then?" _

The swing was low enough to get off, so he did, staggering slightly, clearly drunk. Grinning, he reached behind the camera and pulled back, holding a bottle of vodka which he took a swig of.

"_Let's have a go," he said, stubbing his cigarette out in full ashtray beside James._

The camera moved round so it focused now on James who also looked bedraggled and drunk. His shirt was missing too, but where Sirius was svelte and slender, James displayed a full six-pack when he stretched.

Ginny wolf-whistled jokingly, earning a disapproving look from Mrs Weasley while the others laughed. Harry felt a bit embarrassed, but also quite proud for some reason.

James had shorter hair, sticking up all over the place with a mixture of sweat and wax, and looked tired. He too was handsome, but in a more classic, masculine way than Sirius, with a squarer jaw. His glasses were squared and fashionable and as he turned his head, Prada flashed at them.

"He had expensive tastes," commented Mrs Weasley, a disapproving hint to her voice.

"Hmmm…" murmured Remus. "They shopped like women. Not joking. Sirius owned about thirty pairs of jeans."

"_What time it is?" asked James, looking above the camera and then winking at it directly. _

"_About four." _

"_Shit," James groaned, head in his hands. He flopped sideways onto the leather sofa he was sitting on. "I'm staying here," he muttered._

_Sirius laughed. "Lily's going to kill you!" he sang. _

"_I have to get up in two hours," James said, grinning despite himself. "I'm never going out with you on a weeknight again."_

"_You will. You can't resist me."_

The camera lens dropped and they could hear Sirius fiddling with the knobs and buttons on it.

"_How do you turn this fucking thing off?"_

"_Big black thing on the top," murmured James, clearly half asleep already. _

The picture cut out and the screen went black and crackly.

"That was so funny!" said Ron, grinning. "They were so drunk."

Remus grinned too. "Sirius was such a bad influence on James. He didn't work. He didn't need to work so he'd lure James out all the time. He was right. James couldn't resist him!"

"Can we watch some more?" asked Ginny eagerly. Harry nodded too.

"Well, we've got the rest of this box to get, through, as well as whatever else is on this tape.

"Right, I'll make some more tea then," said Mrs Weasley.

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I hope this set the scene nicely. Basically, the next chapters will be each video in the box, or little scenes from each one set up in the way I have just written it. I'm not sure how many I'll do but I suppose you can suggest a scene you might like. I'm not sure how this'll work out. Please review and tell me what you think!


	2. Spin The Bottle

"_Peter, you haven't got that thing out again?" cried a girl's voice._

"That's Alice," explained Remus. "She was good friends with Lily, Oh, and there's Frank too!"

The camera shot zoomed out to show four girls, one of whom was Lily, another vaguely recognizable as Alice from the woman Harry, Ron and Hermione had met in St Mungo's. The other two, Remus explained, were Lily's other close friends; Geraldine (Geri for short) and Kathy.

"If I remember rightly," said Remus, "this was just after we had left Hogwarts and we all went out together- to a party I think, and then back to Sirius' house seeing as he was the only one who lived alone."

The girls were dressed in party dresses and were sitting on a thick black rug on the wooden floor. Frank Longbottom sat between Alice and Kathy who was gingerly taking off her high-heels, groaning and rubbing her ankles. Frank and Alice were talking softly together, but the camera didn't pick up their words. A pair of legs walked into the frame, clad in slim dark blue Levi's. The mystery boy handed down some beers and a bottle of Fire Whiskey with some shot glasses. Lily smiled up at him warmly. It was presumably James, which was confirmed when he slumped down next to her, pretended to move in to kiss her but instead took a gulp of beer. She laughed, hitting him playfully.

A younger Remus drifted into the frame, wearing jeans and a tight red polo shirt. He stretched in it uncomfortably as he sat down on the rug too and leant back against what looked like the foot of a leather sofa.

"_I see Sirius dug you otr a clean top," said James, smirking._

"_And they're all this tight. It's ridiculous," said Remus. "Why do people dance swinging drink around and slopping it all over everyone. Idiots."_

"_Calm down granddad. Sirius, you coming?" James called._

_Kathy yawned. "Right, what are we doing because I can't fall asleep this early? I vote for spin the bottle."_

"_Me too!" said Alice, grinning and putting her hand in the air as though she were in class._

_James leant in to the camera, looked at it and said in a stage whisper, 'Only because she wants to get on Frank'. He flashed a grin and sat back._

_Alice blushed and lobbed a shoe at James which he dodged._

Sirius' legs entered the frame, clad in black skinny jeans and a red leather belt. He sat down between Peter (with the camera and out of shot), and Remus, so he was at the very edge of the frame. The camera swung round at him, so he winked jokingly as he mixed rum and coke in a glass. He took a sip from it, added a lot more alcohol, took another sip and nodded to himself.

"_They want to play spin the bottle," said James darkly._

_Sirius groaned. "Why? Why? We all know what will happen."_

_Geri laughed, clearly drunk. "That was just a coincidence that you two have had to go all the way the last two game. It won't happen again." She giggled._

"What?" said Harry loudly. "Sirius and my dad-"

"It's different when it's spin the bottle," said Remus quickly. "Although it was odd that it was always them who the bottle landed on three times in a row."

"What does that mean?" said Ron, looking very confused. "Has anyone else heard of the bottle spin thing?"

Fred and George shrugged, but Ginny said, "It's a Muggle game. You spin the bottle and whoever it stops facing, they have to kiss the next person it stops at. If the same two are chosen again, the have to kiss for longer, if it's three times they have to use tongues."

"How do you know this?" Ron asked suspiciously.

Ginny didn't blush, but just shook her head, grinning.

"Shhh," Tonks said, motioning back to the screen.

Clearly Sirius and James had been coerced into playing with more alcohol because they both sat moodily, downing shots of Fire Whiskey. An empty wine bottle was produced, it was spun and landed on Geri, spun again and it landed on Remus. They shrugged, leant forward and kissed briefly on the lips.

The real Remus groaned and sank down in his chair, deeply embarrassed. The others laughed, and watched several rounds go by: Lily and Sirius… Lily and Kathy… James and Geri…

_The bottle span and landed on Sirius. Geri leant in and spun it again but this time it landed on James. The camera shook as Peter laughed with the others who whooped with laughter. James shot Sirius a dirty look before leaning across the circle and kissing him briefly on the lips. _

"_Bringing back memories?" asked Frank, smirking._

"_Fuck off," said Sirius, spinning the bottle himself._

_It landed on James. Lily leant forward and spun it, bursting into hysterical laughter when it landed again on Sirius. James put his head in his hands, groaning desperately. _

"_What the fuck?" cried Sirius. "Is this thing actually cursed?"_

_James drank a few hasty gulps of beer before leaning across the circle to kiss Sirius again, this time holding it on for longer. Sirius hadn't even bothered to move, but just knelt dejectedly._

It was as if he could sense what was about to happen, so Harry's stomach squirmed uncomfortably when the bottle landed on the same people once again, his discomfort and embarrassment were not shared by the people of the screen who were roaring with laughter. Lily clutched her side and Frank laughed openly at James, who was holding his head in his hands.

"_This has to be a joke," he said weakly. _

"_Nope," cried the voice of Peter happily. "Pucker up!"_

"_Piss off," said James, moodily downing the rest of the Fire Whiskey straight from the bottle. _

"_Drum roll please!" said Geri, grinning from ear to ear._

_Frank immediately began a drum roll on his knees and Alice joined in._

"_You're all a bit perverted," muttered Sirius darkly._

_James, once again, was the one who moved and he crawled the short distance to Sirius. Their lips meant, but this time they kissed properly, ignoring the wolf whistling and laughter around them. The camera shook with laughter again, as Sirius held the back of James head as they kissed. _

_Remus was looking at his watch. "Aaaaand… time up!" she shouted over the noise._

_They broke apart quickly, James looking harrowed and Sirius smirking slightly_

"_You'd better watch out Lils," said Sirius. "You'll have competition at this rate."_

"_Well, you have had practice," muttered James, now smiling slightly._

_Sirius pretended to glare at him._

In the camera shot, they were all laughing still at Sirius and James' fate, and the atmosphere in the kitchen was also light except for Harry who felt very uncomfortable.

"You look ill," joked Fred.

Harry screwed up his face as an answer.

Remus laughed. "I remember that so well. It was just incredibly ironic that it happened for a third time. I can promise you know that they never, ever played that bloody game again. Not that they remembered much of it anyway, you saw they were drunk anyway."

"_Shit, the battery is g-"_

Peter's voice was cut off, as was the camera shot altogether as the battery had clearly gone.

"Had Sirius been out with loads of girls then?" asked George, leaning back and munching on a biscuit.

Remus snorted with laughter. "Had he? Are you joking? He lost his virginity the week before his thirteenth birthday."

There was a stunned silence in the kitchen broken by Mrs Weasley's screech of "Twelve!"

Remus grinned. "I know! We didn't find out about his holiday _adventures_ until about fourth year. And at Hogwarts he basically had his own fan club of girls who practically followed him around everywhere. It was sickening."

"Bet he loved it," said Fred.

"No, he hated anyone telling him he was good looking or anything like that. He would get all stropy and irritable."

Everyone was still reeling at the information they had just found out so they drank their tea in relative silence until it was suddenly broken by the screen flickering into life with the next camera shot.

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	3. Quidditch Fight

"Oh my god!" cried Hermione, drawing everyone's attention back to the screen. "What happened to them?"

The camera shot had suddenly changed completely and was now focused on James and Sirius, sitting close to each other against a bare wall that Harry recognised as the wall outside the Hospital Wing. They must have been sitting on the bench by the door and looked like they'd just been beaten up badly. James' left eye was bruised, he had a deep graze on his forehead and his left cheek was swollen badly. He had a blood-smeared ice pack held to it, which he kept removing gingerly.

"_Smile and say cheese!"_

The sarcastic voice rang a bell with Harry, but he couldn't think who's it was.

"That's Peter," said Remus softly, and Harry remembered it suddenly, although it was somewhat less squeaky than it had been in the Shrieking Shack.

James removed the ice pack and grinned, revealing his left row of teeth, one of which had been knocked clean out and the gum was still bleeding slightly. Although he was badly bruised, it was Sirius who was the most injured. He sat with his head back against the wall, his eyes shut. Blood covered a lot of his face and neck and although it looked like he had tried to wipe some of it off, his lip was still bleeding, as was a deep scratch beside his right eye. His nose was bruised and caked in dried blood and his lower lip had split open. Blood, some of it fresh, was wiped down his neck and soaked the top of what looked like Quidditch robes. As the camera zoomed out, it was clear that they were.

Fred and George both gave a low whistle simultaneously. "Looks painful," said Fred.

Remus snorted grimly. "This is the aftermath of the bloodiest Quidditch match I have ever seen. It was just after Sirius had left home so his cousins were out for his blood. It was awful."

"Have you got the match on film?" asked Harry, keen to see his father in action.

"Yeah, it was accidentally filmed towards the end of the tape, so Peter rewound and filmed this bit in a gap before hand. If we just wait a bit…"

And as soon as he finished, the scene changed to one of the Quidditch stands, filmed from about halfway up. They could hear the pre-match chattering of the Gryffindor's, wrapped up against the cold and a distant chant for Slytherin. Suddenly, a similar chant of 'Go go Gryffindor!' started up in the crowd around the camera, which swung round to take in a shot of a very cold looking Remus and below them, Harry noticed with a jolt, the back of his mother's head.

"Peter must have been filming again," said Remus.

The camera zoomed in on the distant figures emerging from the changing room below them, clad in red and gold. Harry could make out Sirius and his father, holding brooms and standing in the Chaser's positions. A tall boy at the front walked forward and shook hands with the Slytherin captain, who was just visible at the bottom of the screen. The players mounted their brooms, the whistle blew and the rocketed up into the air, until they were just about level with Peter and Remus.

Remus' voice was picked up clearly on the footage. _"It's fucking freezing."_

"Sorry," Remus said to the room at large. Ron laughed loudly, mainly at Remus' embarrassment.

"What did James and Sirius play on the team?" asked Hermione.

"Not like you to take an interest," remarked Ron.

Hermione scowled at him before turning back to Remus.

"They were both Chasers."

"Hermione, you can _see_ that. They're already playing," said George, talking very slowly.

The game had moved on. Sirius, James and a third boy, with Humphrey emblazoned on his back were rapidly throwing the Quaffle back and forth, while moving towards the Slytherin end of the pitch. James expertly ducked a Bludger and lobbed the ball towards Sirius, who would have caught it had a Slytherin player not slammed into him, almost knocking him off his broom and causing the Quaffle to fly past into another Slytherin's outstretched hands.

"Foul," cried Ron and Fred, at the same time as Peter's voice echoed the same word over the video.

A whistle blew, faintly heard on the screen. The footage zoomed out slightly and Madame Hooch appeared in the bottom right corner, flying angrily towards Sirius and the Slytherin, who were clearly having a furious shouting match. The Slytherin player's back flashed on the screen, and the name 'Lestrange' was briefly readable.

"Lestrange…" said Harry.

"That would have been Rodolphus. Nearly all of the Sytherin team were pure bloods because they had had brilliant broomstick training from a young age. Look," Remus leant forward and pointed at the screen, which had zoomed out to take in the whole pitch and Humphrey taking a penalty. "Hang on, let me pause this. That's Rodolphus Lestrange there, Sirius cousin, next to Theodore Nott-"

"His son's in our year," said Ron. "Don't like him much."

"Yeah, this Nott was nasty," added Remus. He pointed across at the Keeper, as a cheer crackled loudly on the video as Gryffindor scored their penalty. "That's Fabian Prewett, Sirius' second cousin… and that is Victor Crabbe, a Beater."

"Let me guess," said Fred. He's on the team for his strength and mind-numbing stupidity?"

"Yep, just like his son," said Remus. "He hated Sirius just because all of Sirius' cousins did. Next to him is Lucius Malfoy, obviously you know him… and I think… yes, that's Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus' brother. Aaaaand… there he is," Remus said, pointing at the furthest green figure, " that's Regulus Black, Sirius' brother. He was Seeker."

Remus waved his wand and the video wound into life once again, and the figures immediately whizzed about.

The shot zoomed in to focus on the progress of the Gryffindor possession of the Quaffle, as it was thrown effortlessly across the pitch by the three Chasers. The camera followed Sirius for a few seconds, when he deftly caught the Quaffle and threw it again, a grim look set on his face, the wind blowing his hair in every direction until-

-WHAM. A blur of green collided at full speed into him, hurtling them out of frame. The camera hastily zoomed out and found Sirius again, flat on his back on the muddy pitch. Rabastan Lestrange was picking himself off the ground too, grinning from ear to ear. Having landed on Sirius, he wasn't hurt, but Sirius looked dazed.

"Oh my goodness," Ginny muttered. "That looks painful."

"Seriously, you should have seen the bruises. His back was green and blue for weeks," said Remus.

Angry shouting from the Gryffindor stand buzzed from the screen, mingled with the incessant screams form Madame Hooch as she landed next to Prewitt. Other players were landing too, and Harry saw James kneel next to Sirius and then help him up, with the support of a dark haired girl in red robes. The shot zoomed in to Sirius shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, as James cast furious glares over at the Slytherins. Sirius seemed to be insisting he was fine, and minutes later, after a penalty was awarded to the Gryffindor's, play continued.

"This camera can zoom in really well for a Muggle thing," said George.

"It was magically enhanced, I think," murmured Remus, concentrating on the camera shot, which had briefly scanned the crowd before returning to the game. Play continued uninterrupted for several more minutes until the whistle was blown angrily again. This time, it involved a Beater grabbing Humphrey's broom to stop him catching the Quaffle. Gryffindor won the ensuing penalty.

Mere minutes had passed before screams of outrage filled the screen, and the camera frantically swished down the whole pitch to a Gryffindor player whose nose was streaming with blood. Remus' voice could be heard clearly.

"_Did you see that? Crabbe just smacked John's head into the broom handle with his bat!"_

"Watch this, it's brilliant!" said Remus, excitedly, pointing at the screen. "I know Peter just got it…watch James in the top right corner."

The screen zoomed out. James moved into shot in the corner Remus was pointing at, but Harry doubted he would have known it was his father unless it had been pointed out to him. James was hovering next to a Gryffindor Beater, and seized his bat. Without hesitating, he lobbed it about fifty feet through the air until it clunked neatly against Crabbe's head. A cheer rose up in the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff stands.

The group gathered around the screen in The Burrow all burst out laughing.

"What a shot!" cried Fred.

The crowd on the video were laughing and cheering too, and the shrill blast of the whistle was, once again, faintly heard.

Harry watched the enlarged figure of his father bump hands, grinning, with the Gryffindor beater, and when the camera zoomed out again, it was clear that most of the Gryffindor team were hunched over on their brooms, laughing hysterically. A penalty was taken and won by Rodolphus Lestrange and the game continued.

Peter and Remus' conversation was lost within the noise of the crowd on the tape, which was louder now they knew the match was going to be a tough one. Fouls seemed to have been committed every few minutes, but play was stopped completely when Lucius Malfoy took possession of the Quaffle by elbowing James in the mouth.

The camera zoomed in and focused on James cradling his mouth in his hands, blood leaking steadily through his figures, before his team flew over and crowded round him, bringing him slowly back down to the ground. He was obscured for a while and they heard Peter's annoyed voice clearly over the noise of the crowd.

"_Would they get out of the way… thank you!"_

The players had moved as much younger looking Madame Pomfrey ran over. James turned towards the camera and grimly held out the palm off his blood soaked hand. The camera zoomed in as far as it would go and a speck of white could faintly be seen.

"It was his tooth," said Remus. "The one you saw missing in the beginning."

Madame Pomfrey was looking at James' gum, as he tried to stem the flow of blood, but to no avail. His mouth was just a sea of crimson. Sirius stood grimly next to him, hands on his hips. Madame Pomfrey got out her wand and stopped James' blood flow. He looked immensely relieved and said some sort of joke. Madame Pomfrey left the pitch, the tooth wrapped up in a handkerchief. Play continued and the camera zoomed out again.

Mere seconds had passed before a roar went up in the Gryffindor stands and Peter wildly zoomed the camera in on Nott, who was holding tightly onto Sirius's broom, preventing him from flying. Behind them, the people crowded round the screen could just make out a blur of green clutching a Beater's bat, flying towards them. Sirius had seen this person too, and slid all the way down to the bottom of his broom, swung his foot round and smacked Nott viscously in the head with it. Nott's head whacked back, his nose bursting with blood as he struggled to stay on his broom. Sirius managed to quickly dodge the Bludger zooming towards his head and sped off in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, the whistle blew frantically and a penalty was awarded to both sides.

At least the crowd in The Burrow presumed that penalties were being taken because Peter had suddenly started to clean the lens of the camera, swinging it all over the place. Remus' voice was picked up.

"_Pete, film! You're missing the penalties. Gryffindor have scored… so have Slytherin. Shit."_

The camera shot moved back up and the game was back in play again but this time the Beaters were definitely up to something. Crabbe and Rabastan Lestrange were keeping the Bludgers between them and aiming each one directly at Sirius, who they kept between them both. Sirius was struggling to maintain a strong Quaffle possession with Humphrey and James as he constantly had to duck and weave out of the way of incoming Bludgers. Sirius leant forward on his broom and put on a burst of speed, trying to get out of the circle he was in. But Lucius Malfoy was blocking his path.

Hermione and Ginny both gasped as Sirius found himself completely trapped by his cousins and the camera zoomed out slightly as Sirius was forced to stop or he would collide with Malfoy, only to be whacked by both Bludgers in quick succession; one in his side and the other in the side of his head.

Fred took a sharp intake of breath. "Painful."

Sirius on the video was trying the regain his balance as fresh blood poured down his face from a new cut on his forehead. He didn't see a Bludger careering towards his head behind him, but suddenly a foot came out of the top of the screen and whacked the Bludger away. James sunk into view and the whistle blew once again, but this time it was two long blasts.

"The end of the game?" Ron asked, looking at Remus.

"Yeah, it was. Thank God," Remus answered.

The camera shot followed James and Sirius back to the ground where it became obvious, from the Gryffindor team hugging each other and the cheers buzzing from the screen, that Gryffindor had won the match. The camera swung about wildly for a second before focusing on a Gryffindor boy, his hand held triumphantly aloft with a barely visibly Gold Snitch clutched tightly in it. Longbottom was printed across his back.

"Gryffindor won, but seriously, it was a bloody awful match. Sirius was bruised from those Bludgers for weeks. His side went completely blue."

The post match cheering continued for a bit before the shot suddenly changed completely. It was now filming in the Gryffindor common room, where the after match party was in full swing. Whoever was filming was filming James, who was perched on the end of an armchair, a jaunty smile on his face and a bottle of beer resting in his hand. James grinned, showing off his newly re-grown tooth to the camera. _"Look, she even let me keep the old one,"_ he said, taking it from his pocket and holding it up to the camera for a close-up. People kept of clapping him on the back and congratulating him on a good game.

Harry felt a sudden surge of pride.

The camera shot suddenly swung round as people in the common room cheered. Sirius became visible through the crowds of people, many in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw colours who had evidently been invited along to celebrate a Slytherin loss. He was still dressed in his blood soaked Quidditch kit. People were clapping him on the back too, and many trying to get a closer look at the cut across his eye. A pretty girl went up to him and kissed him, before he shook her off to approach the camera, grinning.

"One of the girlfriends," said Remus, by way of an explanation.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something and the screen suddenly went black and fuzzy.

"The battery ran out, I think," Said Remus.

"What was he going to say?" asked Ginny.

Remus shrugged, gathering up the mugs and vanishing the screen with a wave of his wand. "Can't remember. Some joke about the Slytherins probably. It just shows how much he hated him after he ran away."

"Why though?" asked Ron, frowning. "If they didn't like him before, wouldn't they have been glad that he left?"

Remus shook his head. "No. It's the other way around. He completely embarrassed the family by leaving. No one ever _leaves_ a pureblood family voluntarily. They are thrown out, so the family is in control. I know it makes no sense. Also, he was mean to inherit the entire Black fortune. Since his mother then disowned him and Regulus died young, the properly and fortune went to the next in line, Orion Black's younger brother. And when he died, it went to his son, Lucius. Malfoy Manor used to be Black Manor."

"I never knew that," said Hermione. "Does everything always get passed on throught the male line."

Remus nodded. "That's why Orion black's other brother never had a chance to inherit, because he had three girls; Andromeda, Narcissus and Bellatrix. Sirius was basically the most important person in the family because Orion was the eldest brother and already owned the Manor etc. It's such an archaic system really." He put the empty mugs in the sink.

"I'll do that dear," said Mrs Weasley, hurrying over.

"Thanks Molly. I need to get going, but we can watch some more tomorrow. I need to talk to Arthur about something then," said Remus.

The others nodded eagerly. They couldn't wait to work their way through the videos.

Remus seemed to notice this. "If you want, you can watch some of them now, if I leave them with you."

"No, we'll wait for you. You can explain all the bits that don't make any sense. And I'm sure you want to watch them anyway," said Hermione fairly.

Remus smiled, putting on his jacket and moving to the door. "See you tomorrow then," he said, before disappearing with a sharp crack.

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Sorry it took so long to update. Writers block, but watching HP 6 in the cinema yesterday spurred me into action.


	4. Beginnings Of Sorts

Wow, I'm really sorry about the typos in the last chapter. I was re-reading it and was horrified. Sorry!

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The tea and biscuits were ready on the table. So were the videos. The only thing missing was Remus.

"He can't talk to dad for much longer," said Ron, yawning and grabbing a couple of pumpkin creams.

At that precise moment, a door down the hallway opened and Remus and Mr Weasley walked out, laughing about something.

"No, I'm get back to you on that," said Remus, chuckling as he entered the kitchen and looked round at the table of expectant faces. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny were still there, but that was all. Tonks was at work, but Remus didn't know about the others. He presumed they were at work too.

"We've got this video ready," said Hermione, gesturing towards the misty screen which was already hovering before them. "Err… we were a little impatient…" she started to explain hesitantly, "and finished of yesterday's video." She looked a little embarrassed.

"That's alright. I thought you would," said Remus, sitting down. "I don't remember much happening on it anyway."

The others shook their heads. "Nah, nothing happened," said Ron. "Got a bit boring to be honest. Just a load of blurry stuff on some meteor shower."

"I remember," said Remus. That must have happened just after the Quidditch match, because I think Sirius still had a black eye."

Ron shrugged and ate another biscuit.

"So," said Remus to Hermione, "what video did you chose to watch next?"

"Well, we thought we'd do it systematically so-"

"No," Ron interrupted. "_You _thought we'd do it systematically. _We _didn't care". He ignored Hermione's dirty look and stuffed a whole ginger nut in his mouth.

"As I was saying, _I _thought it would make more sense to watch them in order, you know, starting with the first year and working on from that," Hermione said, suddenly sounding very business like. '"I spent some time yesterday putting them in order because they were completely jumbled up, so it should be easier now'.

Remus smiled. "Good idea. So you've got the very first video? That must have been from our first night at Hogwarts, because Peter's parents bought him that camera before he came."

Ginny picked up the video and squinted at the messy, faded writing on the side. "Yeah… it says 1971 on the side".

"I'm sure that will be our first night then. A bit awkward." Remus ate a biscuit and sat down.

"Why?" asked Harry who was impatient to get going. He felt his stomach lurch in excitement at the thought of his father.

"Hmmm, well you'll see," said Remus mysteriously and Hermione slotted the video into the machine.

The screen flickered into life.

"_It's just so cool!" _

This was almost shouted by a voice out of shot, as the screen showed the ceiling of a Gryffindor dormitory, but a now familiar pang in Harry's stomach told him that it was his father.

"_So it's been charmed, right? To work here and stuff?"_

"_Yeah, yeah."_

The second voice was presumably Peter, sounding just as excited. Harry glanced at Remus, whose lips were pursed slightly.

"_Dad did it all. It's got loads of special features too, like…"_

The camera was picked up suddenly, presumably by Peter and the shot swung wildly around the room for a moment, picking up blurred images of various trunks and bags thrown haphazardly onto beds. Clearly the boys had just moved in and were too preoccupied to unpack.

The shot suddenly stopped on a very young Remus Lupid, who was lying on his front on the opposite bed, head propped up of his hands and grinning at the camera.

"Oh my goodness Remus!" said Ginny, laughing. "You look so different!"

Remus laughed and shrugged. "I remember feeling quite tense actually. About the werewolf thing. I think I had just come from a meeting with Dumbledore."

"_Look what it can do."_

Peter's voice stopped and suddenly the camera shot zoomed in on the eleven year old Remus's face, so close that even a very fine scar crossing his forehead was picked up.

"_Let's have a look… ha Remus! How did you get that scar?"_

It had been James speaking again. The Remus in the image looked uncomfortable and shifted a little.

Harry glanced at Remus again, who was smiling sadly at his younger self. He caught Hermione's eye and they both looked away.

"_I fell down the stairs when I was much younger. I think."_

"It's crazy to think they bought endless excuses like that for nearly two years, isn't it?" Remus said sadly.

The others all glanced at each other.

"When did they guess?" asked Fred, pausing the video.

"I think Sirius realised in the first year. He was always very sharp about these things. They told me they knew at the end of second."

"Oh." Fred didn't really know what else to say. "Er… where is Sirius?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot about that. I think at this moment he was busy pleading with Dumbledore to let him into Slytherin."

"What?" cried Harry, dumbfounded. "But didn't he say that he hated his family because they were into Dark Magic?"

Remus turned to him, teacher-like again. "Yes, but that was only after he was sorted into Gryffindor and actually understood that his parents' views weren't normal." He must have noticed that Harry was still sporting a rather shocked look. "Think about it Harry- Sirius was no different to any of his cousins or any other staunch Pureblood for that matter. He said himself that it would never have even occurred to him to think otherwise before he came to Hogwarts. He even said that if he hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor, he was sure that he would have become a Death Eater like his brother."

There was a silence.

"What? Sirius? Nah, I don't think so," said Ron matter-of-factly, taking a bite out of another biscuit.

Hermione was frowning too. "But if that was the case… if he really did think those things, why on earth was he ever sorted into Gryffindor?"

Remus shrugged. "God knows. Even Sirius doesn't but he said later that he was never comfortable in the presence of his parents, which could have subconsciously had something to do with it. No one will ever understand how that bloody hat works!"

Geroge grinned suddenly. "Yeah, I mean, look at Fred. He's a Hufflepuff if I ever saw one!"

Fred flicked a bit of biscuit at him as a response.

Hermione, clearly ignoring this effort at a food-fight, said, "Well, I suppose that makes sense."

Ron, clearly bored with this theoretical turn of the conversation, flicked the video back on again, earning a glare from Hermione, who clearly had more to say on the matter.

"_Ah cool!"_

Peter had clearly bought the excuse. The shot zoomed back out again and panned around the already messy room, passing James' excited legs bouncing about on the bed.

"_Let me do a tour! I'll do it and you can film!"_

Clearly the excitement of having a video camera that worked with magic was a lot for James to take in. It zoomed back out so they could watch James jump onto the floor by his bed. He brandished his arms wide, dramatically standing aside so they could see his bed in full, complete with messy sheets and abandoned pyjamas.

"_This is my bed! Prime location near the window and the bathroom, as you can see."_

The camera spun round so they were rewarded with a view of exactly how far James' bed was from both of these things. The camera swung back and focused on James' face.

"_Also, I have adorned my walls already with some splendid posters…"_

The camera focused now on two Quidditch posters, both supporting _ and one showing the moody face of presumably the lead singer for The _, which hung proudly either side of his headboard.

Ron snorted. "_! So predictable. Not exactly the Cannons are they?"

"Hey!" Interjected Harry, annoyed for some reason at Ron's contempt for his father's Quidditch alliances.

"Come on Harry," said Ron, eyebrows raised. "He might be your dad but you don't have to support _that_ choice!"

Remus laughed. "Oh god, that's what we argued about constantly when he put the bloody things up."

"… _clearly the best."_

They had talked over what was presumably James defending his poster decisions.

"Debatable."

Remus' wry voice sounded on the video although he was still out of shot. Still in the shot, James shot him a death glare, before continuing.

"_Well then, moving on, we come from my fantastically decorated bed to the window, across here to Peter's far less interesting bed-"_

"_Hey!"_

Peter was clearly not impressed with James' comment on his area of the room. The camera followed James, who climbed over his bed and crossed the short distance between the two beds, which was already littered with various discarded clothes and some sweet wrappers. Peter's bed was already messy and most of the wrappers were presumably from his side of the room.

James put his hands on his hips and put on a mock-matronly voice.

"_Mr Pettigrew! Already causing havoc in the dormitory!"_

He toed some of the mess on the floor. Remus' laugh sounded from the other side of the room.

After a quick survey of Peter's bed, which didn't take long considering he hadn't unpacked or decorated at all, James moved on, walking past Peter who trotted after him to keep up with the commentary.

"_And now we come to the worryingly library like corner of the room belonging to a Mr Remus Lupin."_

The camera swung round to show a very young and almost unrecognisable Remus sitting on the bed, a book already open in his lap.

"Looks like you would have had competition Hermione," said Harry, grinning slightly at her.

Remus laughed again. "I was so worried that I would be behind, especially as I had Remus and Sirius as friends," said Remus, in a half-apologetic tone.

The camera shot showed a rather sizable pile of books considering they had only just arrived on Remus' bedside table. The younger Remus looked slightly embarrassed at James' comment and Harry wondered if it wasn't slightly mean for his father to be teasing someone he had only just met. His stomach squirmed slightly although the Remus on screen did argue back.

"_You won't be teasing me when we start getting essays."_

"_Fair point."_

His father had spoken and moved on from Remus' area, clearly not interested in perusing the book pile. Walking round the end of the third four-poster, he continued his commentary.

"_And finally, this is the bed of Black."_

The distaste was clear in his voice and backed up by the disgruntled look on his face. Remus spoke up again.

"_You should at least call him Sirius. He will be here for seven years after all."_

"_I hope not! Look, he hasn't made any attempt to unpack."_

Everyone looked at Remus in surprise.

"But I thought they were best friends?" asked Ginny, clearly voicing the question everyone wanted to ask.

Remus sighed, pausing the video with a flick of his wand, which froze on an image of James' disgruntled face mid-sentence. "They were but not at first. They hated each other for the first term. Well, none of us liked Sirius at all."

Hermione still looked confused. "But he was completely different from his family. Surely you all would have got on fine?"

Remus shook his head, taking a sip of his now lukewarm tea. "He was a nightmare at first to be completely honest. He and James couldn't stand each other as you'll see," he said, nodding his head at the screen and flicking the video back on with another swish of his wand. James continued his harsh critique of Sirius' bed.

"_He hasn't even opened his trunk."_

The screen showed James kicking the hand-made leather trunk, embossed with S.O.B in gold.

"_Don't touch my things."_

An angry voice had spoken from out of the screens shot, and James looked up in shock. Peter swung the camera round to rest on the face of the young Sirius. Even at the age of eleven, Harry could see that the Black family looks had already made their mark, along with an impeccable posture and sneer. It wasn't an expression he had ever seen on Sirius' adult face.

"_Get away from my bed, and get that stupid camera out of my face."_

The young Sirius shot a scathing and furious glare to Peter behind the camera and the shot swung hurriedly to the floor to show a pair of fidgety bare feet.

"_Don't shout at him. Just because you're stuck up doesn't mean you have to be a complete git."_

James sounded just as angry as Sirius but from the camera's angle, they saw his feet retreat a couple of meters away from Sirius' bed anyway. The camera shook as Peter presumably scurried away from the newcomer who, from the sound of sharp footsteps, was striding across the room to his trunk.

"Well that's quite an entrance," muttered George, eyebrows raised.

"Imagine months of it," Remus replied.

The camera sneaked up from next to Peter's bed on the otherside of the room, rewarding them with a view of Remus, still in the same position on his bed, gazing at James and Sirius with his eyebrows raised. James was now standing with his hands on his hips, looking annoyed. Sirius had retrieved his bad from his trunk and stood up, facing James.

"_Do not talk to me. I will not talk to you."_

He snapped his words out, as though every word spoken to James physically hurt him. After piercing James with a steely gaze which the other boy returned with fervour, he turned on his heel and marched from the room, tailor-made robes billowing and slammed the door behind him.

"_What the hell is wrong with him?"_

James was clearly angry. The camera followed his gaze to Remus, still on the bed.

"_He's probably just asked Dumbledore if he can move to Slytherin again. And he obviously said no."_

"_Well I bloody well hope he lets him move soon."_

The shot still on Remus' side of the room, they watched him stretch and get up, pulling on his shoes as he spoke again.

"_Never mind. We should probably go though. We're never going to find our way to the Great Hall."_

"_Yeah, they should make a map of Hogwarts or something."_

James had muttered the last sentence as the camera was turned up and the screen went black. Harry caught the twins' eyes and smirked slightly, thinking of the map comment.

Hermione was still thinking. "I can't believe how foul Sirius was. Sorry." She blushed slightly, realising she had probably just offended Harry and Remus.

Remus smiled however. "He was utterly foul. He would barely entre the Gryffindor tower except to sleep."

Ron grabbed a biscuit off the plate and took a bite. "I don't see how they became friends. I mean, come on, I wouldn't talk to someone who spoke to me like that."

Remus stood up and began to collect the empty mugs. "I think he got a bit of a shock when he went home for Christmas and decided after that to be cordial. Not nice, but vaguely better for a bit."

"Why did he get a shock?" asked Ron with him mouth full, earning a disapproving look from Hermione.

"He presumed that his parents would be angry at the school, just like Sirius was. Actually, they blamed him for ending up in the wrong house and refused to speak to him."

"What… at all?" asked Ginny.

Remus shook his head. "I think he said they didn't say a word to him for three weeks."

Harry suddenly felt a surge of sympathy for the younger Sirius who had appeared so harsh on the video. He knew what it was like to be ignored for weeks on end.

Hermione seemed to voice his thoughts. "Poor Sirius."

Remus smiled sadly. "Yeah, and of course his cousins were hardly sympathetic. You saw the Quidditch match." He flicked the kettle on again. "More tea anyone? We've probably got time for one more, don't we?"

"Yeah, loads of time!" said Ron, thinking this was the perfect excuse to delay his Charms essay. "What's next?"

"No idea. Probably our first breakfast. I think Peter carried the camera around with him all day."

He flicked his wand and the video began to play again.

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Sorry for such a long break! Will try to keep up some sort of momentum because I feel a bit hypocritical as I hate it when people don't update for ages.


	5. The Howler

"_I never thought I'd say it, but this is better than my mum's bacon."_

The screen flickered back into life, showing a comfortingly familiar shot of the Great Hall. Harry smiled at the image of Peter and James, both taking in the hundreds of chattering students with wide eyes, whilst shovelling scrambled eggs and bacon into their mouths. Remus was presumably holding the camera. James poured out some pumpkin juice while staring curiously at the ceiling.

"_One of the second years said that it shows the weather outside. Looks sunny-"_

The camera briefly swung up, and then jolted to the side when a female voice cut across James.

"_Is that a Muggle camera?"_

The camera swung to Peter's left and stopped on a small girl with ringletted brown hair, who had presumably spoken. She blushed slightly at being filmed. Peter spoke.

"_It's mine. It's charmed though, to work at Hogwarts."_

"_Cool."_

James craned round Peter, swallowing a huge mouthful of toast.

"_Who are you?"_

The girl looked a little miffed at being spoken to so rudely.

"_Alice. Alice Longbottom. And this is Lily Evans."_

Harry's stomach jolted as the camera frame zoomed out and the red-head girl sitting next to Alice appeared in the shot. She peered round Alice, half glaring at James, her spoon of cereal hovering half-way to her mouth.

Remus laughed at the screen. "James certainly knew how to get on the girl's right side."

Hermione smiled. "It must have been odd watching this back knowing that they ended up getting married."

"We played the clip at their wedding," said Remus, laughing.

Harry looked at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. It went down a storm."

"_Who are you?"_

Lily's irritated voice cut across Remus'.

"_James Potter."_

James took a huge bit of toast, smearing a bit of jam over his chin.

Lily's nose screwed up in disgust at his table manners.

The whole kitchen burst into laughter. Harry's spirits lifted as he watched his parents' first ever interaction.

The young Lily opened her mouth, possibly to tell James off but jumped suddenly and looked up as the familiar sound of owl wings sounded on the screen. They caught a brief glimpse of Peter and James, both staring opened mouthed above them, James' toast hanging limp in his hand, before the camera shot flew up to capture hundreds of owls streaming into the Great Hall, most with large packages tied to their legs. A sleek tawny owl landed in-front of James, and immediately nibbled his ear affectionately, reminding Harry of Hedwig.

"_Arty!"_

The younger Remus kept the camera shot on the four first years opposite him. Peter and Alice craned forward to watch James open his present while Lily recoiled, looking warily at the large bird, who was now nibbling on the corner of James' discarded toast. Young Remus' voice sounded, loud against the excited backdrop of chattering students.

"_Muggle-born?"_

He swung the camera round to Lily, who looked up and blushed into the lens.

"_Yes. How did you know that?"_

"_You looked scared of the owl. Ooh, give me one James!"_

The shot swung back to James, who had unwrapped a large box of chocolate frogs and was passing then around the table.

Harry looked at Remus. "Was my father often sent stuff from home?"

"Oh god yeah. He was a spoilt little brat, was your father," Remus replied, laughing. Catching sight of Harry's slightly aghast expression, he quickly added, "I'm only joking! Well, only a little maybe."

Harry looked back at the screen, watching his father's carefree face. Although they looked very alike, Harry could see that as far as personality was concerned, he was very different from James. The laughing and completely comfortable face on the screen could not be more different from how Harry had felt on his first morning at Hogwarts.

"Was James' family rich?" asked Ginny suddenly, sipping gingerly at her steaming cup of tea.

Ron snorted. "Seriously Ginny, have you seen Harry's vault?"

Harry blushed deeply and scowled at Ron in embarrassment while the others laughed.

"Not judging you too much Harry," said George, exchanging a look with Fred before they both winked at him, grinning. Harry knew they were referring to the Triwizard winnings he gave them.

Harry opened his mouth to speak but stopped suddenly as the room's attention was drawn back to the screen by a sudden shrieking noise that was horribly familiar. The camera shot seemed to jolt too.

"_-MIXING WITH THAT MANNER OF FILTH!"_

"Is that…?" asked Hermione slowly.

"Yes," Remus replied.

On screen, James and Peter's heads snapped round to stare down the table at the source of the noise. It was unmistakably a Howler. And with a jolt, Harry recognised the source of the voice as the same one that shrieked from the portrait in the hallway in Grimmauld Place.

The camera zoomed in on Sirius, who sat alone about four metres down the table. He sat poker straight, staring at the smoking red enveloped clutched in one hand.

"_YOU HAVE BROUGHT SHAME ON THE BLACK FAMILY NAME! HOW DARE YOU CHOOSE TO ENTER A HOUSE OF MUGGLEBORNS AND HALF-BLOODS RATHER THAN THE PURITY BEFITTING YOU?"_

Rather than blushing, Sirius had turned a deathly pale. His mother's shrieks echoed in the now silent hall.

Harry squirmed in his seat as he watched every other face turn to watch Sirius. He felt a sudden surge of sympathy for him.

"_YOU WILL MAKE THIS RIGHT, IMMEDIATELY, OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS WHEN YOU RETURN HOME!"_

The envelope burst into violent flames and crumbled into ash on the table, plunging the screen back into silence. The young Sirius stared at it for a second or two before calmly returning to his toast and flicking open a copy of _The Daily Prophet. _The camera swung back round to James and Peter, who looked shocked.

"_I feel sorry for him."_

Peter's sympathy did not seem to go down well with James.

"_Why? He's a complete git. Father said that his entire family are swimming in the Dark Arts. Apparently he was meant to go to Durmstrang. Wish he had."_

"What?" Harry said, shocked. "Sirius was meant to go to Durmstrang!"

Remus flicked his wand at the screen, freezing it momentarily on an angry looking James, mouth open in mid-sentence. He nodded. "His parents wanted him too."

"Do you remember Malfoy said he was meant to go there too?" said Ron.

"Yeah, but _Mother_ couldn't bear to send him so far away," scorned Harry.

Ron grabbed a biscuit and grunted. "Could you imagine how awful he'd be after seven years in that place?"

"Not everyone there _likes _the Dark Arts," said Hermione sharply, before glancing at Ron and Harry and blushing deeply. Ron smirked and ate his biscuit in one mouthful.

"Wha'ever 'ermione."

"Why didn't he go?" Hermione asked Remus in an obvious attempt to turn Ron's attention away from the awkward subject of Victor Krum.

"He told us later that his parents felt that they would gain more… influence, I suppose, within the Ministry if they kept their son's within the country," Remus replied.

"Sounds like Lucius Malfoy if you ask me," said Ron.

"All traditionally pureblood parents are the same. They would prefer to send their sons to Durmstrang but it would look bad within the Ministry."

Hermione frowned. "Why would the Ministry care? Surely they can send them wherever they like?"

"It's not as simple as that," replied Remus thoughtfully. "Most pureblood children are taught by a private tutor from the age of four, Sirius included. They are taught everything, including enough magic to breeze their way through the first few years of Hogwarts. The Ministry has a special interest in making sure pureblood students attend Hogwarts, rather than default to schools abroad that might cater to their parents… _beliefs_… a little better."

"What special interest?" asked Fred.

Remus shrugged. "Students like Sirius are pretty much guaranteed to keep the school's examination results up. It's that simple really."

"What?" cried Hermione. "So pureblood parents working within the Ministry are rewarded if they send their children to Hogwarts? That's ridiculous!"

"It makes sense as far as the Ministry is concerned. Hogwarts is a world-renowned school, and it would look bad on them if it slipped a little in the league tables," Remus replied. "Look Hermione, I don't agree with it either, but it's been that way for generations."

"It's unfair though," muttered Ginny.

"What can I say? Wealth buys you power. It was a motto Sirius knew well, as you can see from the tape," said Remus.

In the tense silence that followed this revelation, Remus flicked the video back on. James stuttered back into life, finishing what he had been telling Peter.

"_His father is pretty high up in the Ministry; works with my dad sometimes."_

Harry's stomach twinged in embarrassment at the slight cockiness of his father's words. He had to remind himself that the boy in the video was only eleven. However, he pushed the surfacing memory of his father bullying Snape back down and continued watching the video.

The shot was now swinging back and forth between James and Sirius, still looking pale and withdrawn, alone further down the table.

"_Nasty piece of work, apparently-"_

"_Is gossiping all you have to do?"_

An angry voice cut across James mid-sentence. Harry recognised it as his mother.

The young James leant forward to glare at the red-head. Peter sat back, obviously trying to keep out of any confrontation. The camera shot swivelled back and forth between the two of them. Lily spoke again.

"_Why don't you just try to be nice to him? It can't be nice having a mother like that!"_

"_We've tried to be nice! Haven't we?"_

James looked at Peter and Remus behind the camera for support. Remus' voice sounded.

"_We've tried. He's just not interested."_

The young Lily snorted and opened her mouth to argue back before staring past James, out of shot and sitting back.

"_Good morning Professor McGonagall."_

The camera swung up behind James as a much younger but instantly recognisable Professor McGonagall stepped into the shot. The shot then lowered. Harry presumed that Remus was nervous about openly filming such a formidable Professor.

"_Arguing already? And what is that contraption you are holding there, Mr Lupin?"_

Remus' nervous voice sounded, as he dropped the camera so low that all the screen showed was his empty plate.

"_A Muggle video recorder. It's Peter's."_

The camera was fumbled back across the table and they were briefly rewarded with a view of Remus's young face before the shot once again was lowered to cutlery level.

"_My dad gave it to me. As a leaving present."_

Peter's voice seemed to falter under the presence of McGonagall.

"_Well, there's no rule against having one. Make sure you do not take it out in class. Now, here are your timetables."_

The sound parchment being handed out was heard over the screen.

"_You will be sharing some classes with other houses."_

Harry recognised McGonagall's introductory lecture, remembering it from his own first day.

"_Now, I'd put that camera away if I were you and get to class. It's Potions, is it not?"_

"_Yes Professor."_

Alice had presumably answered her. That was the last thing they heard before the camera shot swung wildly and was then plunged into darkness. Mere seconds later, it flickered back on, this time within the homely Gryffindor common room.

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Sorry about the wait etc. This is not abandoned at all! I'm just completely shit at updating. Revision etc.


	6. Marauder's Discovered

Oh and thank you so much to all my lovely reviewers! You've spurred me on to update twice more this week. Well, that's the aim! Wish me luck homies!

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The camera was focused on the blazing fire in the Gryffindor common room. The shot then zoomed out and it became apparent that whoever was holding it was seated nowhere near it. A group of older students were lounging there instead. James' disgruntled voice rang out.

"_We'll be in those seats soon."_

Harry laughed along with the others.

"Nice to see that the sofa hierarchy is still there," laughed Fred. Harry smiled too. No first year would dare to sit in these prime seats, and on the one occasion he and Ron had, they had swiftly been relocated by some fifth years. It seemed that The Chosen One status didn't get you everything.

The camera swung back round to James and Remus, who were sitting on one of the sofas near the window. James was still staring slit-eyed at the students on the sofa. Remus looked content, if slightly uncomfortable. Harry wasn't sure if it was due to being on camera, or if it was a type of social awkwardness associated with his lycanthropy. He thought best not to ask.

"James became very possessive over that sofa a few years later," said Remus with a smile. Harry noticed however that he watched his younger self slightly sadly. His younger self then spoke to a point just above the camera, presumably to Peter.

"_What are you filming Peter?"_

"_Just the common room. Thought it would be nice to film it on the first night."_

James didn't look impressed.

"_Don't know what you expect will happen. Wait until I get my delivery and we'll soon liven it up."_

Peter's voice rang out.

"_What delivery?"_

James tapped his nose in a mysterious way.

"_You'll find out. I don't know if I can trust you yet, and I'm not letting Black find out."_

Remus looked slightly disappointed, realising possibly that he was not fully in James' confidence.

"What was the delivery?" asked Hermione

Remus laughed. "Oh the usual. About thirty Galleons worth of Zonko's produce."

"Excellent!" said George. "I didn't realise you were into good old mischief Remus?"

Remus flicked his wand at the screen to freeze it momentarily, cutting across Peter's pleads for delivery knowledge. He laughed. "Well, it was mostly James and Sirius who terrorised the school but I admit that I _may _have supplied a helping hand once in a while. We even had a name."

"What was it?" asked Fred, dunking three spoons of sugar into his tea.

"The Marauders. Not particularly orig-"

"WHAT?" Fred and George both shouted it at once, staring at Remus in both shock and awe. The teaspoon clattered onto the table.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and burst out laughing. Harry had completely forgotten to tell Fred and George about Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs' true identities.

Remus laughed too and turned to Harry. "You never told them?"

"I completely forgot," admitted Harry, still grinning.

"Hang on," said Fred, still trying to comprehend what we was being told. "Did you make the Marauder's Map?"

"Yeah, we did."

Fred and George were now staring in upmost respect at Remus, as though seeing her properly for the first time.

"Remus Lupin, you sly old dog!" said George, leaning over to slap Remus on the back. "That map was a life-saver in our youth!"

"You found it?" asked Remus.

"Yeah," said Fred, "and then passed it on to dear Harry here. Corrupting the young."

"Ahhh," said Remus slowly, turning to Harry with a slight smile on his face. "So that's where you got it?"

Harry smiled sheepishly.

"How did you get hold of it?" Remus had turned to Fred and George.

"We nicked it from Filch's office."

"He confiscated it from us in our seventh year. It wasn't used much after James became Head Boy anyway."

Fred scoffed. "A traitor to the Marauders cause, if you ask me."

"Oh you know us that well do you?" asked Remus.

"The map seemed proud. So you wrote it?" Fred replied.

"Well, I hoped with the research process at least. Sirius actually drew it, being handy with the quill."

"So which one are you?" asked Fred, earning a disgusted look from George.

"I would imagine that he's Moony." Fred at least had the decency to look a little sheepish at this answer.

Remus smiled. "Very observant George. Yes, I was Moony, James was Prongs as his Animagus form was a stag, Sirius was Padfoot for obvious reasons and Peter was Wormtail. We sort of used the names as code words when discussing transforming at the full moon in public."

"This has literally blown my mind," murmured George, obviously still in shocked awe.

"I can't believe we forgot to tell you!" said Ron. "We found this out two years ago."

The twins looked particularly disgruntled at this revelation. Fred turned back to Remus. "How did you charm it? A kind of tracking charm or something? We've tried to work it out before but couldn't."

Remus groaned. "It took bloody ages to work it out. James came up with the idea late on in our first year, and so we sat down and began to draw it. I had to work out the scale, which involved basic measurements of most of the castle and then scaling it down. Most small parts are just made up, and not to scale, which you might have noticed."

Fred and George's faces showed that they hadn't. Harry had leant forward eagerly, having never really appreciated the effort his father and his friends must have put in in order to create the map.

Remus continued. "We placed a tracking charm onto the castle and just linked it to the map. Well, not just. It took weeks to work out. In the end Sirius developed his own charm which would reveal the identities of anyone, no matter what concealment they were under."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "But didn't you say you completed it by your third year? How could he have developed his own charm by then?"

"Hermione, Sirius was one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. He and James combined were a formidable force. He never really explained exactly how he created it, so we presumed it has some elements of Dark Magic."

"Dark magic?" asked Harry sharply.

Remus looked slightly uncomfortable. "Don't judge him Harry. It was all he knew until he came to Hogwarts and you've seen the library here; it's full of Dark books."

"Yes but surely Sirius wouldn't have used it?" But even as he said it, Harry remembered that he had seen Sirius send a Cruciatus Curse at Bellatrix Lestrange just before he di-. Harry pushed the painful memory away.

"Sirius always had a slightly skewed attitude to the Dark Arts. He was as well practiced in them as most of his cousins, you have to remember. And he always stated that he saw no problem in using them to defend himself against a Death Eater. It was something he and James often fell out over."

Harry chewed on his lip, not entirely sure how to digest this information. "But still…"

"I didn't agree with him either," said Remus, "and he might not have used Dark Magic. It was too complicated for him to explain. He just worked on it over the Christmas of our third year and when we came back, it worked."

"Got us out of a few tight spots," said Fred happily, apparently not caring in the slightest about the Dark Magic issue. "Obviously not when you taught us. Professor."

Remus smiled. "Better than just sitting in Filch's office. Right, shall we start it again?"

The others nodded and Ginny got up to boil the kettle for yet another cup of tea. Remus flicked the screen into motion once again and James finished his sentence.

"_- you'll find out soon enough! Patience is a virtue, my dear Peter. Right, shall we do something? What's the time?"_

The young Remus looked at his watch.

"_Half past seven. We've got half an hour before McGonagall said we have to stay in our houses."_

"_Plenty of time to have a snoop around. Fancy taking that camera for a walk Pete?"_

The camera shot wobbled slightly as Peter shifted in his seat, his legs stretching out at the bottom of the screen.

"_No one calls me Pete."_

"_Really? I think it has a nice ring to it. Pete?"_

"_No."_

"_Fine then. Shall we explore with the camera for a bit then. It's not like we have any work to do."_

On the screen, James stood up, clearly expecting the others to follow him. The camera angle shifted. Clearly Peter has stood up too. James looked down and the shot followed his gaze to Remus, still sitting down and nibbling on his lip.

"_Remus?"_

"_I was thinking I might read the chapters for tomorrows History of Magic class."_

"God I was a nerd," muttered Remus, next to Harry, who laughed.

James looked as mortified as Ron ever did when Hermione suggested voluntary work.

"_That has got to be a joke. This might be our last night of freedom for seven years! Come onPete!"_

Peter's groan over his unwanted nickname sounded. The younger Remus looked around and then shrugged, standing up. The camera followed him and then panned around the busy common room, resting briefly on a young group of girls on the opposite side of the room. Harry's stomach did its familiar lurch when he spotted his mother in the group, chatting animatedly to another girl.

"_The girls in our house seem nice."_

Peter's voice sounded on the screen, and James' answered him.

"_Nah, a bit argumentative if you ask me. Come on them."_

The camera juddered as Peter walked, the screen showing James' back as he led the way to the portrait hole. Harry, who had been smiling along with the others over James' disinterest in Lily, noticed that his father's hair had stuck up in the same place at the back that his did. They followed James' back as he led the way into the seventh floor corridor. He turned, grinning, to the camera.

"_And this is the Fat Lady! The password is Humperdink, just in case we forget later."_

The camera swung round to show the familiar portrait which masked the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Harry remembered how excited he had been at this when he first saw it too. After five years however, clambering through was no longer as exciting as it had been, nor helped by his extra foot of height. The Fat Lady stirred and peered down at them.

"_First years are you? Make sure you're back here in twenty minutes dearies."_

The camera swung round and they watched James and Remu wander off down the corridor. The filming was slightly erratic as Peter swung it haphazardly all over the place, clearly wanting to get a shot of everything. After an older Gryffindor walked past, staring curiously at the camcorder, Remus spoke.

"_Shall we go down a floor? There's a bit of corridor that goes away from the main staircase that we haven't been down."_

James patted him on the back, in a mock patronising way.

"_I like your thinking my man!"_

The camera then followed them down the stairs and off to the right, which Harry recognised as the way to the very distant Divination classroom. Peter's voice sounded.

"_I've never seen so many corridors. I know I'm going to get lost for months."_

Suddenly James and Remus ahead of the camera stopped. The kitchen watched as they both exchanged a glance. James turned to the camera and places a figure over his lips, indicating silence. As a group, they were evidently creeping to the corner of a corridor leading off to the left as the screen advanced forward very slowly. James crept to the corner first and peered round it. He then approached the camera and presumably whispered at Peter.

"_I think a couple of people are at the far end of the corridor. I can't see who though. Zoom in on them!"_

Arms reached round the corners of the screen, presumably to push Peter to the corner. The shot moved forwards and then swung round the corner. At the far end of a corridor Harry didn't recognise, a boy and girl were standing. The camera shot suddenly zoomed in sharply, magnifying them. The focus was twiddled higher and lower until both students were suddenly in sharp and close resolution. Harry instantly recognised a very young Sirius on the right. The girl he was in deep and by the look on his face, serious, conversation with rang a vague bell.

"Is that Bellatrix Lestrange" asked Hermione sharply.

"Yes it is," said Remus.

"Why are they talking? They hated each other," asked Harry, taken aback.

Remus made a face. "Sirius admitted that he and Bellatrix were very close before Hogwarts. It's one of the reasons why he knew that if he had not been sorted into Gryffindor, he would have become a Death Eater."

"That's crazy!" said Ginny, handing out fresh tea. "They're so different. I mean… she's awful, isn't she?"

"Oh she's a nasty piece of work. About as bad as they come. But Sirius would occasionally show a nasty streak. He wasn't someone who you'd want to get in a fight with," Remus replied.

The young Sirius and Bellatrix seemed to be having a heated debate. She stood with her arms folded, glaring at Sirius, who looked unhappy. He was doing most of the talking, and kept trying to take Bellatrix's arm, but she moved away every time.

"_What do you think they're talking about?"_

Peter had whispered the question, just about audible on the screen. James' voice whispered back.

"_No idea. I can't hear anything. She looks angry though. Who is she?"_

"_One of the Slytherin's judging from the uniform. She looks a bit like Black, so maybe she's a relative."_

The screen was silent for a little while and the three snooping first years were clearly just watching the camcorder screen. The younger Sirius looked pale and worried. The family resemblance was more striking here than the last time Harry had seen them together. He swallowed, bitter hatred rising as he glared at this image of the woman who had murdered his godfather. Remus' voice sounded again.

"_I really think we should turn this off and head back. It's five to eight and if they look round, I think that girl might kill us."_

"_Yeah, good idea."_

James had whispered the reply. Even he sounded worried about what the strange girl's reaction to being filmed would be if they were caught. The kitchen was given a last shaky view of Sirius pleading with his one-day-murderer before the screen was plunged into darkness.

0000000000000000000

Trying to keep my promises this time, instead of abandoning you guys for months at a time!


	7. Agreeing to Disagree

The group in the kitchen fast-forwarded the next few sections of video tape, as they had little desire to watch every lesson of the Marauder's first day at Hogwarts. Remus had explained to them that Peter had had a very short lived idea that if he filmed their lessons, he would never fall behind. It was a concept shattered by the subsequent boredom the footage caused and James' constant mocking. They began to play it once again when the younger James and Peter were in their dormitory, dressed in a uniform of childish stripy pyjamas.

It seemed as though James was filming.

Peter's voice sounded. _"And look what McGonagall gave us! Two more chapters, as well as the stuff Binns gave us. It's only the end of our first week!" _

The image of the screen was of the crimson canopy over presumably James' bed, and the shot zoomed in and out on it. Occasionally, bare feet would swing into the bottom of the shot.

"_Are you going to do any, James?" _Peter's voice squeaked out.

"_Nah, not tonight," _James' voice said loudly, as he was closest the to camera.

"Good attitude," commented George approvingly, earning a 'The Hermione,' as her disapproving look was now jokingly named.

James' voice rang out again. _"I think I've mastered the zoom on this thing. Got to admit that the Muggles sure make some cool toys." _

"_You should see some of them James. The zooms can go to about five times that amount, and you can get cameras that change the shutter speeds automatically and everything, so that-"_

Peter's voice was cut off by James'. _"Yeah, but can they make the pictures move?"_

A pause indicated that Peter had no retort for this.

The group in the kitchen heard the sound of a bolt scraping back and a door opening, before the shot swung round to show the young Remus exiting the bathroom clutching his robes in his hands and dressed for bed.

James spoke again. _"You can get changed in here you know It's not like we're gay or anything." _Peter's laugh could be heard off screen, but the camera followed Remus across the room to his bed, where he carefully folded his robes, a blush creeping up his neck. It was a detail that Harry wondered if he only picked up because he could guess why Remus would have been reluctant to change in front of others.

The younger Remus laughed nervously but didn't answer.

The subtle reaction from the image of the young Remus was clearly lost on Ron. "Bet you weren't too happy when Sirius turned out to be gay!" he laughed, slurping from his cup of tea.

Remus laughed too. "We weren't bothered at all to be honest, but a lot of the school had the same reaction as you."

Ron looked surprised. "You mean, you didn't mind changing and stuff in front of him? But he could have, you know..." Ron seemed to suddenly realise that he was insinuating that Sirius had been perving on his former professor and tailed off quickly.

"Just because they were all guys doesn't mean that Sirius had to fancy all of them," snapped Ginny, clearly annoyed at Ron's bluntness. "That's like saying that just because you and Hermione are friends, you have to fancy each other."

'Yeah I suppose," muttered Ron, but Harry thought he saw a faint blush spread on Ron's cheeks.

"To be honest with you," interrupted Remus, "I think that considering they had only confronted me about my lycanthropy about a month before Sirius admitted to us that he was gay, his _problem_ never really seemed to even register as an issue. Mine was far more interesting."

"That was very mature of you all though," said Hermione seriously.

Remus nodded sadly. "Yes, it was really. Not many boys our age would have been so accepting.

A sudden cry of delight from the screen brought their attention back to it. The shot had followed Remus back to where he was standing, pointing out of the window. _"Look, their playing Quidditch!"_

The camera shot bounced about suddenly as James' pyjama-clad body darted out in front of it. He had clearly thrown the camera down onto his bed. The shot now showed the backs of the three boys on the left, craning out of the window and chatting excitedly.

"_Looks like Ravenclaw. They're meant to be really good so no wonder they're practicing already." _ James, already the tallest, was peering over the top of Peter's head to get a better look.

Peter however, sounded less inspired. _"Look how high they are… don't know if I'll want to do that."_

James spoke again. _What? Are you joking? Quidditch is the best sport ever! Have you never played?"_

"_My mum never let me." _Peter sounded slightly embarrassed to admit this.

"_What about you Remus?"_

"_I've never played either."_

The admittance of this caused the young James to take a step back toward the camera lens. _"Oh good god!" _

Harry wondered vaguely how his father would react if he knew that his son had never even heard of Quidditch before Hogwarts. This depressing train of thought was interrupted by the sudden movement of all three boys on the screen, who all suddenly turned to stare at something off the right hand side. They heard a door slam and footsteps march across the room.

"_Hello to you too." _James had snapped the words sarcastically, so the viewers in the kitchen were left in no doubt over whom he was talking to.

The camera had fallen in a position so they could only see the very edge of the group of boys on the left, and the corner of Sirius' bed on the right. Harry thought that they were lucky to see anything at all considering the speed at which James had abandoned camera duties.

There was apparently no reply from the young Sirius, but the camera shot was just wide enough to catch James exchange a thoroughly pissed off look with the young Remus.

James stepped forward so that he was now visible fully in the frame. _"Look, it's been a week now Black I think we all know that you're not going to be transferred to Slytherin or Durmstrang or wherever the hell you want to go. So if you're going to be stuck here with us you might as well try to be civil."_

"_Or we could just ignore each other." _

Sirius' drawled reply made Harry think of one particular Slytherin.

"God, he sounds just like Malfoy!" exclaimed Ron in horror, confirming that Harry had not been the only one to hear the uncanny resemblance.

Remus chuckled lightly. "Ah yes, the classic pureblood drawl. A trait picked up with the single eyebrow lift and the subtle smirk."

"Malfoy ticks all of those boxes," said Ron, grabbing a Crunchy Nut from the plate.

"I think we have footage of Sirius attempting to teach us how to do them in this box somewhere," Remus said, gesturing to the box of videotapes by his feet. "I'm sure we'll come to that soon enough."

Sirius had now appeared in the camera shot.

"He looks ill," remarked Hermione.

Harry took a closer look at the young Sirius' face, and agreed that he definitely looked tired. He had the same tired and drawn look that Harry himself developed over the course of his summer holidays. He knew that it was the result of not sleeping and forced loneliness, but there was no way he was going to comment on that aloud.

"_What, so you plan to spend the next seven years just ignoring us completely?" _The young James sounded incredulous.

"_I don't intend to be here that long. There's no way on earth I'm spending seven years in a house of blood-traitors and Mudbloods like you."_

The sound of three outraged gasps hissed from the screen, along with the noises of disbelief in the kitchen.

"He did not just say that!" exclaimed Ginny, visibly shocked.

Harry too felt a pang of upset, tinged with anger. How had Sirius been so different? "I cant believe he was that horrible."

His tone of voice must have disturbed Remus, who froze the screen with a wave of his wand. "Harry, look, Sirius was only eleven. I'm not excusing his language," he added quickly, seeing Harry's outraged face, "but he had spent eleven years being brainwashed by his family."

"Like Malfoy," commented Hermione, chewing her lip and clearly disturbed.

"Exactly like Mr Malfoy," continued Remus. "Do you know what Sirius told us when we eventually became friends after Christmas? He said that he was practically unaware that there was another word for 'Mudbloods."

"What do you mean?" asked Fred.

Hermione spoke before Remus had the chance to reply. "Do you mean that he hadn't heard of the word Muggleborn?" she asked slowly, hardly daring to believe what Remus was saying.

Remus, however, nodded. "Exactly. We were disgusted, obviously."

Fred let out a low whistle. "No wonder these people are crackers," he commented, with all the insight of a Rita Skeeter article.

Remus flicked the screen back on quickly, evidently attempting to divert another long argument about Wizarding primary education which he had been forced to partake in with Hermione after the previous video they had all watched. The girl was clever, but sometimes he just wanted to watch camcorder videos.

James was shouting, in mid-flow. _"-disgusting! My dad always said that your family were nasty pieces of work and now I know why."_

They young Sirius didn't seem bothered by this statement at all. _"At least we're not blood traitors like the Potters. You could have been noble and great, but you've tainted yourself."_

James stepped further into the shot, now looking very red in the face. _"You slimy little git!"_

"_Leave it James. Let's just- let's just go to bed." _Remus' peace-making attempt was evidently ignored by both arguing boys.

The young Sirius now had a very ugly look on his face. _"Everyone knows that the Potters are the worst kind of blood-traitor. If my father even knew I was talking to you-"_

James shouted over him, causing the speakers on the screen to crackle a little. _"Well, it doesn't seem like your father cares! They sent you a Howler didn't they? And they haven't sent you any post or letters so I don't think your parents care at all!"_

The shot showed Sirius' face go very pale and crumple a little, as though James' words had really hit home. Harry felt a sudden pang of sympathy for the boy in the video.

They saw no more of the young Sirius, but a door slamming indicated that he had marched out of the dormitory, leaving a crackly silence on the screen behind him.

James gave a low whistle. _"Jesus…"_

"_That was quite harsh," _the young Remus said, so quietly that Harry nearly missed it.

James looked slightly guilty but shrugged. _"It's true though, isn't it? There's no point in him going on about his parents thinking this and that if they ignore him."_

"_He looked quite upset." _Peter had now stepped in to the frame, the camera still lying forgotton on James' bed.

James replied, sounding slightly irritated. _"Yeah, well I don't have much sympathy for someone who throws Mudblood around."_

"_Yeah, I can't believe that…" _The young Remus now moved fully in to shot to sit down on the bed opposite the camera. He bit his lip and looked uncomfortable. _"This cant continue for the whole year though."_

"_Nah, he'll get down off his high-horse soon enough." _It was as James said this that his eye was caught suddenly by the camera, as he had presumably noticed the red light glinting at the top of it. _"Oh crap, we left the camera on!" _

The camera shot suddenly swung about madly and they were rewarded with an unflattering close-up of Peter's chin as he peered down into the lens. _"The battery is nearly gone. Better turn it off." _And the screen went black.

0000000000000


	8. Snooping

When the next video clip once again flashed up on the screen after a few seconds of blackness, Harry was almost instantaneously given a headache by the shakiness of the image. Clearly whoever was in charge of filming duties this day was running. The backs of James and Remus, draped with Gryffindor scarves, kept jumping in to frame, and it soon became apparently that the three boys were running through the halls of Hogwarts.

"Hang on, have we skipped forward to November suddenly?" asked Harry in surprise, turning to Remus.

"I suppose so. I think we forgot to film for quite a while. To be honest, the camera only really came out every month or so once we'd got over the excitement of the first week."

Hermione looked confused. "How do you know it's November," she asked, gazing at the screen and trying to find any clues to the season. However, the vomit inducing jumpiness of the screen hardly offered much in the way of clues.

"They've got Gryffindor scarves on so I presume their going to a Quidditch match," Harry pointed out.

Hermione still looked confused.

"And Quidditch season starts in November," Harry added slowly.

"Oh, does it?" Hermione looked ashamed of her dismal Quidditch knowledge.

"Good god Hermione, even I'm embarrassed for you," muttered Ginny.

Harry turned his attention back to the screen, where the boys were now running across the grounds towards the distant Quidditch pitch. Despite the awful footage quality, Harry didn't think the pitch looked as though it had changed at all.

"_I can't believe we overslept for our first ever Quidditch match! And Gryffindor's playing!" _James' voice sounded distant and out of breathe.

"_I know," _Remus' voice panted back.

The back of the two boys gradually became more distant and in shot. The young Remus turned back towards the camera as he ran and called out. _"Come on Peter!"_

The footage continued bumping around, as the boys entered the stadium and began clambering up the wooden stairs. The screen now showed the wooden slats criss-crossing between the inner and outer walls of the stadium and Peter's muttered _"Wow" _showed that this was their first time inside it.

"Was it really that vital for you to have filmed that?" asked Fred sarcastically. "It's put me off my hobnobs."

Harry snorted, also feeling faintly sick from the jumpiness of the footage.

The shot suddenly stopped and swung back round, to where James and Remus had stopped suddenly ahead.

"_What is it?" _Peter sounded very out of breath.

The young James turned round quickly with his finger pressed to his lips. He mouthed what looked like shut up but the screen was very dark as the boys were currently hovering uncertainly on the steps just below one of the landings.

"… _well I don't know what you want me to do about it." _They could just about hear the words so Remus flicked his want to turn up the volume.

"Who's speaking?" Ron asked Remus.

"Lucius Malfoy I think," Remus replied.

"_Please Lucius. Surely you can write to your father-"_

Harry recognised Sirius' voice, which had been suddenly cut off by Lucius' deeper one. Now that Remus had identified the voice, it was unmistakably that of Malfoy. Harry felt a burst of sudden anger. _"And he would do what? Have a word with your parents and they would magically accept their Gryffindor son?" _The camera picked up the derisive snort which followed this very clearly.

The camera shot stayed frozen on the backs of the young Remus and James, who were now craning their necks to try and catch all of the conversation. It seemed as though their excitement to see the Quidditch match had long been forgotten.

Sirius now sounded defensive. _"I am NOT a Gryffindor. This is just a huge mistake." _He hissed these words, causing James, whose face was now in profile, to give a grimace of dislike.

"_Oh, and the hat just made it's first mistake in one thousand years did it? Yes, that's certainly a plausible excuse." _

"_Lucius, please help me."_

Harry was torn between feeling sorry for the young Sirius and feeling disgusted that he was pleading with Lucius Malfoy, of all people.

"_Since when do Black's snivel, Sirius? No, you got yourself in to this mess and you can therefore suffer the consequences. I presume this is your father's message too?"_

Sirius' answer was too quiet to be picked up by the camera. Apparently James and Remus had missed it too as they glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"_Ah, the silent treatment is it? Well if you want to anger your father than that's up to you. I'd rather you than me." _

Sirius spoke slightly louder this time. _"I didn't choose for this to happen Lucius. You must believe me!"_

"_You have always had a disobedient side, so my mother has told me." _There was the sound of sharp footsteps, causing Remus and James to shuffle back towards the camera in alarm, but they sounded as though they had climbed a couple of steps. _"No, you must sort this out for yourself. Now, excuse me." _The footsteps rang out again, this time fading into the distant sound of the cheers and boos of the crowd.

After a few moments of silence, they could here Sirius begin to pace back and forth. James backed down a couple more stairs towards the camera, clearly worrying that Sirius was about to come back down, where he would turn the corner and run straight into his fellow Gryffindors, who could have not looked more like they had been snooping if they'd tried. However, after another few moments, the sound of Sirius' footsteps continued up the steps, much to the visible relief of the other boys.

James turned back to the camera as huge cheer from the crowds about them echoed in the stairwell. _"Did you film all of that Peter?" _He seemed surprised that the camera was still on.

"_Yeah," _came the reply.

"_Well I hope he does get transferred. I don't want to be stuck with a boy who just grovels to all of the Slytherins." _James looked very annoyed.

The younger Remus pushed him gently in the back. _"Let's go up. It sounds as though the match is almost finished."_

The camera shot started to bounce as the three boys began to climb the stairs again. It finally settled down as they emerged onto the stands and took a seat at the back. The shot now zoomed in on the match and the end of the footage was of a rather boring match finally won by Gryffindor.

"Quidditch looks like the most boring game ever when you have to watch it on a crappy screen," Ron said, echoing Harry's thoughts exactly.

Fred snorted. "Well it doesn't help that whoevers holding the camera doesn't seem to realise that it's generally helpful to follow the players with the quaffle rather than always zooming in on the bloody people in the opposite stand. He didn't even catch the bit when they caught the snitch!"

Remus laughed. "That's exactly what James said when we watched it back. Peter wasn't allowed to film any Quidditch matches after this one."

"Well at least we now know that Lucius Malfoy was always a complete knob," said George.

"A bit of an understatement if you ask me," Remus commented dryly. "He was the ringleader of that little pureblood pack. A very nasty piece of work."

"At least we know where Draco gets it from," said Ron, grabbing another biscuit and apparently feeling absolutely fine after the awful quality of the footage they'd just watched.

Hermione looked disturbed. "I know I shouldn't but I just cant help but feel sorry for Sirius. He must have felt so isolated."

"I've got to admit that we did feel a bit guilty in second term for having been so nasty to him," said Remus. "However, he didn't attempt to make life any easier for himself."

"Was his father really that bad? Even Malfoy seemed hesitant to approach him," said Hermione, and Harry wondered once again why it was that she was able to pick up on the slightest nuances that went straight over everyone else's heads.

"Sirius' father?" clarified Remus. "Well, you've seen what his mother is like from that damn portrait so I think you can guess just how lovely his father was."

"So did Sirius always hate his parents?" asked Harry, wondering what was worse; never having known your parents or having parents who you always hated?

"He didn't really hate them until he was sorted into Gryffindor. I think before that he just never really knew them and was always slightly scared of them to be honest with you," Remus answered, standing to gather the used teacups from the table.

"What do you mean, he never really knew them?" asked Ginny, picking up some crumb covered plates and taking them over to the sink.

"Sirius didn't live with his parents until he was nearly six years old."

This surprised everyone. "What? Where did he live then?" asked Ron.

"In Black Manor, which is now Malfoy Manor. Sirius and his brother, Regulus, lived there while their parents lived here," Remus replied. "It used to be very common for pureblood parents to hand their children straight to nannies, just like it was within the Muggle aristocracy, but it was quite rare when we were growing up."

"That's awful!" Hermione looked disgusted. "So they were just dumped on strangers?"

Ginny looked outraged too. "I don't understand how parents could do that."

"Bet mum wished she could with some of us," muttered Fred, sending George a wink over the table.

Remus flicked his wand and the scrubbing brush started its work on the dirty teacups. "Sirius didn't see it like that. He said that his childhood officially ended when he was six and was taken back to live with his parents. And they dismissed his nanny, who had pretty much solely raised him from his birth."

Hermione shook her head, frowning. "So he was actually happy never seeing his own parents as a child?" She sounded disbelieving, but Harry could see Sirius' point when considering the portrait upstairs.

"He did see them, Hermione," Remus answered. "But only when they made formal visits to the Manor. Sirius said that the visits where hugely traumatic because the entire household would be in a panic for about a week before, and then he and Regulus would be paraded out in front of them. He said they would be in tears every time."

"No wonder they didn't get on," Harry said, feeling the overly familiar wave of crushing sadness when he realised how little he'd actually discussed with his godfather.

"And hence he was so desperate to get his parents to forgive him for being placed in the 'wrong' house," Remus continued. "He was terrified of them. But of course we didn't know that at the time."

"No wonder he was never even bothered by mum, even when she was really in her stride," said Fred. "She must be easy-going in comparison."

Remus laughed. "Well, quite."

A thought had suddenly occurred to Harry. "Did you say that Malfoy Manor used to be Black Manor?"

Remus nodded. "Yes it did. Because Sirius was disowned, and then Regulus died suddenly, it passed down to Sirius's father's cousin after his death, who happened to be Lucius Malfoy's father."

Harry chewed his lip, thinking. He supposed that the discomfort he felt was due to the fact that he had never thought of his godfather as part of the pureblood elite. After Sirius had told him that he had run away from home, Harry had simply presumed that meant he had always hated his family. In hindsight, he realised that that was a pretty foolish assumption to have made, and one definitely shattered by the tape they had just watched.

Remus seemed to have sensed the underlying uneasiness to Harry's question. "Look Harry, it's hardly surprising that Sirius acted like a complete arse when he first came to Hogwarts, but he changed completely. You have to believe me when I say that."

Harry nodded, feeling slightly reassured as he helped the others finish clearing up the table. The next video sat ready and waiting on the table for them to continue the following morning.

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Thank you to all of you lovely lovely reviewers and followers. I'm going to try and pick up the pace a little.

Oh, and just in case any of you think that my version of Sirius' childhood is a little farfetched, I consider the pureblood upbringing to be comparable to that of the traditional English upper-classes. And the section about how the children were paraded out in front of the parents is based on the childhood of the Queens father, who grew up away from his parents and was pinched hard by his nanny so that when the King and Queen saw him, he would be crying and would be told off. Nice little useless fact for you – part of the reason why he stammered (as in The King's Speech). Right that's my little history lesson done for now! I just thought that I would explain my thought process a little with this. I try to fit in as much historical fact as I can to add a little weight to the story, if that makes sense.

Anyway, thanks a bunch!


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